We will be treated this year to a stark con­trast in visions for Amer­ica. That con­trast can­not be made clearer than by con­sid­er­ing a pair of tax pro­pos­als before Con­gress this week.

Repub­li­cans in the Sen­ate blocked con­sid­er­a­tion of a Demo­c­ra­tic pro­posal known as the Buf­fett Rule, which would have cod­i­fied a clearer pro­gres­sive income tax, and would have resulted in an esti­mated $36.7 bil­lion per year in addi­tional fed­eral rev­enue. (Cor­rec­tion: the esti­mated $35 — $47 bil­lion is for a ten-​​year period.) Vir­tu­ally simul­ta­ne­ously with that act, Repub­li­cans in the House announced a new tax cut pro­posal, which would increase the deficit by almost exactly the same amount as the Buf­fett Rule would have reduced it. (Cor­rec­tion: the Repub­li­can pro­posal would increase the deficit by about $40 bil­lion in a sin­gle year.)

That’s right…after spend­ing three years whin­ing about the deficit, the Repub­li­can reject a bill that would have made at least a token move in the right direc­tion, and rec­om­mend instead an increase in the deficit.

Why would they engage in such bla­tant self-​​contradiction? The rea­son is sim­ple. The Buf­fett Rule would have raised taxes on wealthy peo­ple. The Repub­li­can pro­posal would lower taxes on wealthy peo­ple. It’s really that straight­for­ward. (more…)